Opium KL 乌香院 @ Changkat Bukit Bintang, KL

A fancy new face has popped up along the forever happening street of Changkat Bukit Bintang, another creation by Werner Kuhn which is something different. It has got the elements from the east and west as well as our local flavours in their food dishes too.

Opium乌香院

Eat.Drink.Man.Woman 饮食男女

Such a unique name, with a special meaningful tagline.

The outdoor setting is touched with vibrant green and sharp pink and each wooden table is placed with an ancient-looking lamp; while the whole atmosphere is filled a mix of Chinese oldies and funky beats up the air. It was as though I was transported back to the olden days, during the most happening era where colours and the funky components played an important part in their culture.

As for the indoor, the wall is decorated with the Chinese ceramics vessels that used to store Chinese wine in those old days. There are also different types of opium pipes displayed on the wall facing the Chinese-ceramic-wall. Just like an exhibition or museum, we get to view different types of opium pipes.

The Rose Room, filled with lust and desire; with opium bed at the center. But this place is meant for dining and drinking, not like what you think for the erhemmm, opium use.

On the other side, there would be the bar; bartenders were busy mixing and preparing the delicious booze created by the mixologist, Joshua Ivanovic of Cocktail Solutions. The cocktails here are very soothing and yummy. Must must must check out their signature cocktails that blend uniquely and serve in a special way.

Cheese Samosa (Rm 18) Crispy popiah skin encased with 3 types of cheese and raisins, served along with apricot chutney as dipping sauce.

Fern Leaf Salad with Grilled Prawns (Rm 24) Wild fern leaves tossed with grilled prawns, sambal, ginger, shallots, and coconut and drizzled with tangy lime juice. It was a very refreshing salad that came myriad of flavours; this was also my very first time having fern leaf in salad!!! Simply… a new experience to me.

Curry Spaghettini (Rm 28) Oh yummy!!! I love the pasta in our local favourite, curry! Spaghetti cooked in coconut based broth that seriously infused with spices; brimmed with ingredients such as dried shrimps, chicken, long beans, sprouts, prawns, tofu puff and egg. It was really yummy and we polished the curry clean! Pasta definitely works great in our local flavours.

Wagyu Beef Rendang (Rm 38) The tender wagyu beef, cooked in spices, turmeric leaves and kaffir lime leaves was explosive with flavours. Choose your choice of carbs, Lotus Leaf Buns or Poppy Seed Rice to pair with the wagyu beef. We prefer the buns that were able to soak up the aromatic rendang sauce easily.

Creamy Butter Prawns (Rm 42) Prawns cooked with milk, butter, chilli, garlic and curry leaves and finally touched prettily with a hint of purple. The sauce was creamy and thick, pretty aromatic too. As usual, you can choose between Lotus Leaf Buns and Poppy Seed Rice to go with the main.

Came to the sweet ending, we had the Cheesy Banana Fritters (Rm 18) Fried banana, aged cheddar, banana ice cream. my very first time having fried banana or pisang goreng with cheese!!! Such a great combination especially paired it with chilling ice cream in banana flavour too!

From left to right: Melon Ice (Rm 15) Very similar to the Chinese’s西米露; with honeydew melon, sago pearls and coconut milk.